Graphical user interfaces have become increasingly popular. For example, versions of the Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM. operating system provide for a graphical user interface in which users navigate within the interface via a pointer. Within Windows.RTM., objects such as ActiveX controls are displayed on a screen via associated windows. Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM., therefore, is a windowing environment in that objects are displayed via host windows, and thus such objects are known as windowed objects, since they require host windows in order to be displayed on the screen.
The Java programming language provides for another graphical user interface. A graphical user interface provided by Java also allows for objects, sometimes known as Java beans, to be displayed within the graphical user interface. However, the user interface provided by Java differs from that provided by the Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM. operating system in that Java does not require objects to have hosting windows for them to be displayed. For example, whereas an ActiveX control in the case of Windows.RTM. has a window associated with it, within which the ActiveX control is displayed, Java objects may be displayed directly on the screen, without the use of an associated window. That is, Java objects are non-windowed, and therefore may displayed without the need for a hosting window. Java is therefore a non-windowing environment, in that it does not require the use of a host window to display an object.
This means that the graphical user interface provided by Java does not provide for a manner by which to host windowed objects such as ActiveX controls. That is, because Java does not provide for hosting windows to host objects that require windowing, windowed objects such as ActiveX controls may not be utilized within Java There is a need, therefore, for the hosting of windowed objects such as ActiveX controls within non-windowing environments such as that provided by Java.